Israel attacks targets throughout the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army attacked targets from the air, ground and sea in the Gaza Strip overnight into Saturday, it said, as air raid sirens warning of incoming rocket fire blared in Israeli communities near Gaza.
About a week after Israel’s new attack in the south, the army said much of the close-quarters fighting in the ground assault took place in Shajaiye, a neighborhood in northern Gaza that the Israeli army called “a hotbed of terrorists.”
The Israeli military said it had identified a number of fighters armed with anti-tank missiles approaching ground forces nearby and led an Israeli helicopter attack. It said it had also located and struck a tunnel shaft that was part of an extensive underground route in Shajaiye, and located another tunnel shaft containing an elevator and “numerous weapons.” The claims could not be independently confirmed.
Israel’s ground invasion, which began in northern Gaza in late October, has moved south over the past week as intense fighting spread through the enclave. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled northern Gaza for the south, and there are now few places for Gazans to go.
According to the Israeli army, approximately 150,000 civilians are still expected to remain in northern Gaza. In recent days, the Biden administration has urged Israel to do more to limit harm to civilians, but some experts say they see no evidence the military has moderated its tactics.
Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, said Al Aqsa Hospital in northern Gaza had received the bodies of 71 dead, and another 160 wounded had arrived for treatment in the past 24 hours. More than 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to Gaza health officials. Another about 6,000 are missing, officials say.
The Israeli army also said it had attacked fighters “near a school” in Shajaiye and found AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and ammunition in classrooms. In Beit Hanoun, also in northern Gaza, the Israeli army said its forces had attacked Hamas fighters who fired at them from a mosque and a school run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency that helps Palestinians.
The claim could not be independently confirmed and UNRWA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has said Hamas fighters are hiding in hospitals, schools and other civilian areas in Gaza.
As the war has dragged on, concerns have grown about a spillover of violence on Israel’s northern border, where the army has exchanged sporadic fire with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia. Early Saturday afternoon, a number of launches were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel. The military said it responded by targeting the source of the fire.
The strikes followed additional fire overnight when the Israeli air force struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including operational command and control centers, the military said. There were also launches from Lebanon into Israel overnight, setting off emergency sirens warning of incoming rocket fire, and the Israeli military said it had responded by targeting the source of the fire.